A Lesson In Opinions On Education

Superintendent Finalist Looks At School Day, Underachievers

June 07, 1990|By MARK DI VINCENZO Staff Writer

JAMES CITY (COUNTY) — Lexington superintendent Elizabeth D. Morie, one of three finalists for the vacant superintendent post here, said Wednesday that as superintendent she would consider restructuring how students and teachers spend their school day. Morie, who once taught at Bruton Heights School and Jamestown Academy and was assistant principal at Bruton Heights and Rawls Byrd and Norge elementary schools, also said underachieving students should spend more time in the classroom, including summer school, and she vowed that she would not cut academic programs in response to a money shortage if she was superintendent.

She spoke at a forum to give local residents a chance to hear her views on education and is the third of three finalists to do so. The other two are former Dickinson, N.D., superintendent Ross H. Julson and Shakopee, Minn., superintendent Gayden D. Carruth.

The job was vacated Feb. 15, when John E. Allen resigned after criticism of his management style by Williamsburg-James City County School Board members became public. Later that day, Assistant Superintendent Elwood T. Lewis, who has since received local support to be the superintendent, was named acting superintendent.

Morie provided only sketchy details about how she might restructure the school day for students and teachers. In an interview afterward, she referred to a teaching strategy called "parallel block schedule," then declined to describe it, saying it's too complicated for non-educators to understand.

She also would not say if, as superintendent, she would require more underachieving children to attend summer school.

However, when asked whether she would cut programs such as music and art during times when money is tight, she was definitive.

"I go back to the premise that you don't cut programs, not with a $30-million budget," she said. "I'm good at nickel-and-diming."

Morie taught and was an assistant principal here from 1963 to 1973 and lived in the area until 1981. Her past here has been an advantage for her now as well as a disadvantage. While she personally and professionally knows many of the people in this school division whom Julson and Carruth did not know, her affiliation with Jamestown Academy has been questioned. The private school, which closed last year, was opened in 1964, according to some in the black community, as a way to circumvent desegregation for white families at the time.

Morie said Wednesday she doesn't know what the school's board members were thinking back then but added that segregation was never part of the school's philosophy. At the time the school was opened, she said, the public school division was overcrowded, and "parents wanted more participation" in the education of their children.

The School Board will meet privately at 2 p.m. Friday to discuss the finalists' qualifications and, according to state law, has until June 15 to hire someone.